Toilet seat assembly



March 12, 1963 G. MILLER ETAL 3,080,572

TOILET SEAT ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 6. 1960 IN VEN TORS .7 5 l-l United States Patent() 3,080,572 TOILET SEAT ASSEMBLY George Miller, Rolling Hills, and Glenn R. Colclough, Los Angeles, Calif., assiguors of one-half to Silkauf Manufacturing Co., Inc., a corporation of California, and one-half to Stauffer Chemical Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 6, 1960, Ser. No. 54,219 1 Claim. (Cl. 4-240) This invention relates n general to a toilet seat hinge and anchor construction for securing said hinge to a toilet bowl.

Toilet bowls are formed of ceramic or other cast material and, as is well known, because of the non-resilient character of such material, loosening of the nuts used to secure the toilet seat hinges in place is common. Also, the standard ceramic4 bowls having anges at the rearward portions thereof are made with holes therein of sufcient size to'receive any Yof a wide variety of posts or bolts which may be used with the toilet seat hinges available. As a result, the use'of a bolt or post of substantially i less than the diameter of the hole'through which it passes (as is common) may result vin poor centering of the entire hinge structure, unless care is taken in assembling the structure -to center carefully the posts or bolts.

* It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an integral hinge and post or bolt structure which may be secured permanently to a toilet bowl of standard construction.

It is still another object of this invention to provide means for readily centering the hinge posts or bolts, quite irrespective of the size of the holes through which the bolts or posts are passed.

, Other objects and advantages of this invention, not specifically set forth, will become apparent during the course of the detailed description which follows.

Broadly, this invention relates to a hinge structure for use with a conventional toilet seat and bowl, the bowl having a flange at the top rear portion thereof, the flange having holes therein for receipt of posts or bolts which are preferably integral with the hinge structure. The invention is directed especially to the bolt or post and its cooperating lock nut, the latter being of a plastic construction aud being only partially threaded whereby the nut may be forced into locking engagement with the underside of the bowl ledge and with the bolt or post onto which it is threaded.

In the drawings:

FIGURE l is a plan view of the novel hinge structure of this invention with a portion of a conventional toilet seat, cover and bowl being shown.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional side elevation taken along the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1 showing the manner in which the novel hinge structure of this invention is secured to a toilet seat, cover and bowl.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged side elevation, partially in section, showing a portion of the hinge and particularly illustrating the structure of the bolt or post and its cooperating lock nut.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged plan view of the structure of FIGURE 3 showing the head portion of one of the bolts or posts together with the accompanying cup structure used as a receptacle for the rod about which the hinge articulates.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view similar to a portion of FIGURE 2 showing the manner in which the lock nut grips its bolt or post.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged side elevation, partially in section, showing an improved rod used to support various portions of the hinge structure of this invention.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like characters kof a ilexible and resilient plastic.

ICC

refer to like parts throughout, there is shown in FIG- URE l a toilet seat 10 of conventional construction having a similarly conventional cover 12 resting thereon. A conventional toilet bowl 14 is largely obscured by the seat and cover, but the integral ledge 16 may be seen at the left of FIGURE l. Each hinge includes a central rod 18 about which flanges 20 pivot, the ilanges being secure-d to the toilet seat cover 12 by means of screws. Also secured to the rod 18 by means of trunnions is a second pair of flanges 22 which are suitably secured to the toilet seat 10 by means of screws, not shown. Each of ilanges 20 and 22 is of somewhat greater thickness at the central portion of the lowermost edge thereof, as at 21 and 23, so as to provide greater rigidity.

The rod 18 is held by cup-like receptacles'24 having integral flanges 26 which support the head portions 28 of bolts or posts 30. Preferably, the entire hingel structure is formed of plastic material such as polyethylene or polypropylene; if one of the advantages .of this invention is to be obtained, it is particularly important that the entire structure shown in FIGURES is formed of such a resilient plastic material. As shown in FIGURE 3, the head Z8 is sli-ghtly concave yon its lower surface if, as in the preferred embodiment, the head is formed Thus, nut 32 may be ltightened sutlciently to cause the head 28 to flatten, thus placing tension on theassembly and discouraging'nut 32 from workingloose. f

The :nut 32 is formed of a vresilient plastic material such as polyethylene or polypropylene and is of a particular construction whereby to insure further that the hinge does not work loose from the ceramic bowl. As shown particularly in FIGURE 3, the upper surface 34 is of a beveled or conical structure, sloping down from the top-center while the nut is counterbored and without threads at the topmost portion thereof, the inside diameter of the cylinder 3S so formed being slightly larger than the maximum diameter of the threads of bolt 30. The lowermost portion of the nut is threaded as shown in FIGURE 3 and may be provided with suitable llat surfaces at the lower portion thereof to receive a wrench.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the bolts or posts 30 are conveniently of much smaller diameters than the diameters of the ledge holes 36, thus lto enable the hinge structure of this invention to be used with toilet bowl structures having ledge holes of varying sizes. It is also important that the inside diameter of each hole 36 be greater than the inside diameter of the counterbored area at the top of the nut 32, for reasons which will become apparent below.

When nut 32 is Ithreaded onto the shank of the bolt or post 30, care need not be exercised to assure that the shank is properly centered in the hole 36, as when the beveled portion 34 reaches the underside of the ledge, the bolts or posts will be centered automatically as the nuts 32 are tightened. lf the entire bolt and nut structure of this invention is formed of plastic material, two different effects may be observed as the nuts are tightened. As shown in FIGURE 5, the beveled portion 34 of each nut will be forced inwardly by the non-yielding ceramic material of the ledge 16. Thus, each nut will grip its respective bolt in the fashion shown in FIGURE 5. Simultaneously, the concavity of the head 28 will be lessened, thus placing further longitudinal tension on the bolt and nut structure.

It has been found that by the use of a partially threaded and partially unthreaded plastic nut of the type described herein, it is possible to form, for the first time, nuts of plastic material suitable for use where relatively large forces are involved. Plastic nuts without the selflocking feature are stripped when suicient torque is applied to insure against immediate loosening; but this is not observed where the nuts are counterbored in a fashion described so as to allow the beveled or conical portion of each nut to be forced in and down, thus to grip the threads of the bolt or post used therewith.

As shown in FIGURE 6, the rod 18 is of a stepped construction having smaller ends 40 and 42, each of such ends being of a sufficient length to accommodate all of elements 20, 22 and 24, with the innermost edges of each of brackets 20 lying adjacent the shoulders 44 and 46. Also, as shown in FIGURE 6, the rod 18 has a hollow interior. The rod is preferably formed of a plastic and ismolded with a steel core which is subsequently removed.

Obviously, many modilications and variations of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore only such limitations should be imposed as are indicated in the appended claim.

We claim:

Inra toilet bowlconstruction havin-g a toilet bowl and Va hinge for securing a toilet seat thereto, said hinge hav- -ing flanges suitable for being secured to the said seat and means for anchoring the said hinge in place on the .said bowl, said anchoring means comprising at least two 'downwardly extending bolts integral with the said hinge .and spaced therealong, said bolts having threads on .the :lower ends thereof; a ledge on the said bowl having holes therethrough for receipt of the said bolts, the internal -walls .of vsaid holes and the surfaces of the said ledge adjacent thereto kthrough which said holes pass forming right angles with one another, said holes being of a greater diameter than lthe diameter of the said bolts, each of said bolts having a head portion on the end thereof nearest the said hinge, each of said heads being of suicient size to prevent passage of said bolts through the said holes, th: improvement consisting of a resilient plastic nut threaded on the lower end of each bolt, each of said nuts having a portion at the uppermost end thereof counterbored to a depth at least as great as the length of the threaded lower end, said counterbore being of a diameter Igreater than the diameter of the said threads of the said bolts but of a lesser diameter than the diameter of the said holes in the said ledge, each of said nuts having a beveled top and a greater outside diameter than the diameter of said holes in the said ledge, the lowermost portion of the said ledge of the said bowl and the beveled portion of each of the said nuts being forced into tight engagement when the nut is made up fast on a bolt whereby the inside surface of lthe top of each of the said nuts is forced inwardly and into tight engagement with its respective bolt.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 558,931 Buick Apr. 28, 1896 601,249 Geise Mar. 29, 1898 659,262 Shipherd Oct. 9, 1900 2,077,815 Taylor Apr. 20, 1937 2,765,699 La Torre Oct. 9, 1956 2,930,049 Minella Mar. 29, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 516,068 Italy Feb. 18, 1955 810,234 Great Britain Mar. 11, 1959 

